terça-feira, 11 de outubro de 2016

Finnair flies A350 to Tokyo in Asian expansion

Airline expands Asian operations with more services to Japan and Hong Kong in 2017

Finnair has unveiled plans to launch more flights to Asia, including its first ever Airbus A350 services to Tokyo.

The Helsinki-based carrier will add four more weekly flights to the Japanese capital’s Narita Airport next summer, using its new 297-seat A350. These will operate from 5 June to 27 October 2017 and will complement Finnair’s existing daily A330 flights on the route.

Finnair will also add three more A350 flights to its Helsinki-Hong Kong route between June 6 and October 28 next year. Currently, the airline operates daily flights to and from Hong Kong, so the overall frequency will rise to 10 flights per week, all using the A350.Finnair’s Airbus A350 at Hong Kong International Airport (credit: EQRoy)

And the Finnish national carrier has also revealed that its new seasonal route to Guangzhou will return in 2017 with four weekly flights operated using an A330 aircraft. This route first commenced in May 2016 as part of a double Asian launch with Fukuoka.

“With increased frequencies for Tokyo and Hong Kong on the A350, we are now tapping into the growth of Asia-Europe traffic and increasing our presence in cities that have been popular with our customers in recent years,” said Juha Järvinen, Finnair’s chief commercial officer.

“It’s been a year since we received our very first Airbus A350, and with seven aircraft operating in our network, we look forward to having even more customers flying on this great aircraft.”

Next year, Finnair is expected to receive four more A350s, all of which will come equipped with three cabin classes – business, premium economy and economy. At present Finnair operates the A350s to five Asian cities: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Singapore.

Finnair’s expansion strategy is focused on tapping the Asian market and positioning Helsinki as a convenient transit destination for Asian passengers flying to and from Europe. In the first nine months of 2016, Finnair carried 1.35 million passengers on its Asian routes, up 5.9% year-on-year.